Frankie Manning (far left) with members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, truckin' like crazy!

Frankie turns 88 this year...

See below for a special birthday tribute we're involved withthis Wednesday night at the Rhythm Club!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Dance isn't something that can be explained in words. It has to be danced.

--Paige Arden

* * * * WORKSHOP THIS SATURDAY * * * *

SAVE THE DATE: THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 23RDSWING RUEDA WORKSHOP!

Make sure to mark your calendars now to join us this Saturday for our next workshop: The Swing Rueda! This is a terrific new swing dance that is sweeping Los Angeles and the rest of the global swing scene. The dance is done in a ring with swing dance steps (some you know, some which are being created just for this dance) and a "Caller" leading the rueda shouts out moves that get you to pass partners along the ring, sort of like a square dance...but...in a...circle.

We offered this dance in our Featured Class slot two months ago and it was so popular that we brought it back for another consecutive month. Since people still keep asking for more, we're offering this special three-hour workshop. So for those of you who have already learned some of the Swing Rueda, and for those of you who may have missed out the first time around, come along and take this terrific class! The cost for the entire three-hour workshop is only $25. It's being held at the Neptunian Woman's Club in Manhattan Beach (920 Highland Avenue) from 4pm until 7pm.

JOIN US AT THE RHYTHM CLUB THIS WEDNESDAY FOR A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY TREAT FOR LINDY LEGENDFRANKIE MANNING!!!

Big Apple class poses in a moment from Frankie Manning's choreography

This Wednesday night, the Rhythm Club swings out with a special birthday tribute to one of the founding fathers of Lindy Hop, Frankie Manning! Frankie turns 88 this year, and as a present to this great man, the whole worldwide lindy community is getting together for a special tribute. All the global swing scenes are going to videotape their local venues dancing to Frankie's favorite song, "Shiny Stockings". Then all of the footage will be cut together onto one take, showing a few moments of each community, all dancing to this song. It's like a worldwide musical birthday card to one of the true greats in our dance. So come down and swing the night away and help us celebrate the birthday of this wonderful man!!!

Big Apple class in "Gaze Afar" pose, invented by Frankie Manning

So come down this Wednesday night and spend an evening among friends at the Rhythm Club.. We've got some of the best DJ'ed swing music anywhere and a reputation for being the friendliest club in Southern California! Add a 2,800 square foot dancefloor and some pretty powerful air conditioning, loads of parking and a mere $6 cover charge and you've got yourself a terrific evening. And it's open to ALL AGES!!!

THE BILL ELLIOTT SWING ORCHESTRA!PLAYING LIVE THIS FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 22ND!

RUSTY AND PETER TO PERFORM WITH MEMBERS OF THE CAST FROM "SWINGIN' THE CENTURY!"

The fabulous Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra is playing this Friday, March 22nd, from 8pm until midnight! Your own swing teachers, Rusty and Peter, will be on hand to perform numbers from the show "Swingin' The Century", and will be announced by none other than that incomparable emcee, Maxwell DeMille (aka Stanley Sheff). The dance will be held at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills, at the corner of Topanga and Oxnard. (Go north on Topanga off the 101, its on the right.) The address is 21850 Oxnard. Call for tickets (818) 703-0826. For directions, click HERE .

END-OF-SERIES PARTY THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 24TH! PERFORMANCE CLASS TO STRUT THEIR STUFF!

Mark your calendars now to attend our upcoming End-Of-Series party...it's bound to be a special night!

We are thrilled to announce that there will be a special display by the Performance Class that night of the new routine they have been working on over the last six weeks! You certainly won't want to miss the debut performance of this fun new number!

However, if you can't make the party this Sunday, you'll have two more chances to see this Performance routine: again at Rusty & Peter's Rhythm Club next Wednesday, March 27th, and again at Suzy Q's on April 5th. It really is a wonderful number, and the class has worked hard to make it shine even more than we could have hoped!

These dances are held at the end of each four week series of classes and are always a real ball! They are FREE and open to everyone (students and friends of students, local dancers and total strangers...) of all ages. If you haven't been out social dancing yet, this is a great way to get into it...dancing the night away with all your friends from class! As ever, the dance is at the Neptunian Woman's Club, 920 Highland Ave, in Manhattan Beach, from 7pm until 10pm! See you there!

LOCATION CHANGE!LOCATION CHANGE!LOCATION CHANGE!

MONDAY NIGHT CLASSES NEXT WEEK ONLY: MARCH 25THTO BE HELD AT THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS IN PLAYA DEL REY!

We wanted to drop in another reminder to anyone who is in our Monday night classes that next week's venue has changed to the Knights of Columbus in Playa Del Rey. The address there is 8049 W. Manchester Blvd. This is just two doors down from the Elk's Lodge where we hold the Rhythm Club dances every Wednesday night. So again, if you are in any of our Monday night classes (Shag & Balboa Basics, The Big Apple, or Level Four) please don't go to the Neptunian Woman's Club in Manhattan Beach next Monday night, or you will be very sad and lonely...

* * * * UPCOMING EVENTS * * * *

BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY RETURNS TOSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA!!!

Here's another update on fun live swing music coming your way soon. This tip came to us from Tammy Munro, and involves one of the seminal bands in the swing revival from several years ago, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy! Tammy is interested in coordinating a group to go to one of these dates, so if you'd like to go along and see one of the legendary "new swing" bands, right here in Southern California, just email her at daisyswingcat@aol.com . Here's the details she gave us...

Hi Rusty & Peter,

Woo-hoo, my favorite swing band is here!!!I knew I heard something on the radiothe other day about Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performing at the Staple Center, so go to www.bbvd.com (it's not on the Staple Center website for some reason), enter "tourdates" from the Mystical Oracle page and it will give you NOT ONLY the information for this Saturday, March 9th, but for the rest of the year until September!!!Other local dates to consider are April 19, 2002 at the House of Blues in Anaheim at Downtown Disney and July 10, 2002 at the Hollywood Bowl!!!!

Here's the information I've collected about BBVD at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney onFriday night,4/19/02:

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is performing at The House of Blues at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA.Cost for the show is $22.50 per person and starts at 8:00pm.Tickets are on sale now.For more information or to buy tickets online, go to http://hob.com/tickets/searchresults.asp?p=2&venue=Anaheim.As far as I know, they’re not offering any group discounts, but people "may" get a discount (not sure, I have to find out) if they're an annual passholder.I know they get 10% -20% off dining & merchandise, but not sure if that includes tickets.Parking is free if you are a Disney Annual Passholder......that is provided you have either "pre-paid" for your parking at the time when you got your annual pass or if you have the premium pass which includes parking.

THE LIVELY ARTS HISTORY ASSOCIATION-- What a fantastic group of people this is! "The LAHA is an organization dedicated to fostering an understanding of history through the performing arts", and what an excellent job of this they do!!! Everything from clothes to music to dance is brought wondrously to life by these dedicated souls.

Rusty and Peter were lucky enough to be a part of one of their events four years ago, called the "Victory Swing". This was a recreation of a USO-style dance celebrating the end of World War II. There was a terrific small swing band (led by none other than Dean Mora of Mora's Modern Rhythmists) and some Andrews Sisters-style singing, as well as a great Tap dance performed by Rusty herself!!! It was a really wonderful evening, and we just recently recieved a note from the webmaster and LAHA member Walter Nelson, with some footage from that evening. You can see that by clicking

HERE (If you look closely in the background of the dancing, you can catch a glimpse of Rusty and Peter...!) For more information on the organization, check out their website at http://www.lahacal.org !

*Wondering what the heck a "gate" is? This was a phrase popularized by 1940's comedian, Jerry Colonna, who would holler it out every time he was introduced on the Bob Hope radio program. It was a friendly salutation to a swing cat (dancer or swing music enthusiast).